Solidarity Pilgrimage Promotional Resources
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To help you recruit through your congregational newsletters and worship bulletins - please copy and paste:
ECCO SOLIDARITY PILGRIMAGE for IMMIGRANT JUSTICE
August 19th-24th, Boston to Dover, 70 Miles
Join members of _____ (YOUR CONGREGATION) for the ECCO Solidarity Pilgrimage for Immigrant Justice from August 19th-24th as we march from Boston to Dover. Now is the moment to bring forth our prophetic voices, calling on our elected officials and demanding that they commit to ending all detention and deportation until Congress passes just immigration reform.
The pilgrimage kicks off with a rally at the JFK Federal Building in Boston at 10am on Monday, August 19 and ends at the Strafford County Immigrant Detention Center in Dover on Saturday, August 24th at 3:00 PM. We walk to denounce an immoral immigrant system that is dehumanizing Black and brown people, ripping families apart, and even causing death. Please join us at the rally at either end, at our evening rally in Lynn, or for any leg of the walk. Sign up at bit.ly/eccopilgrimage1 and donate to support this effort at www.eccoaction.org/donate and designate your donation for “Solidarity Pilgrimage for Immigrant Justice.”
Sample email for you to personalize based on Rev. Wendy von Courter’s email to her congregation. Please copy and paste. Images of children caught in this struggle are available for download below.
Dear Friends,
This Must Stop
Perhaps you too have seen the images of children tragically caught in the throes of immigration journeys and detention - Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria, who drowned in the Rio Grande or Jakelin Caal Maquin, age 7, who died after being refused medical attention when she was ill. We wept when 19-month-old Mariee Juarez was jailed, became sick and died as her mother watched helplessly. This must stop.
We Must Act
As we witness these deaths and the horrific violence increasing toward those who are judged not to belong, we are called to act in the spirit of the Hebrew prophets - boldly, courageously, and creatively!
Join the Pilgrimage
To this end, I am writing to invite you to join congregations across the North Shore in ECCO’s Solidarity Pilgrimage for Immigrant Justice, August 19th-24th from Boston, MA to Dover, NH. We are walking to inform our neighbors and incite public moral outrage at our government’s unjust actions against the immigrant community. We walk to demand that our government stops spending tens of billions of dollars targeting and separating Black and Brown families. Instead, we ask that our government create protection for all who need it and reinvest our money in programs that strengthen our families and communities.
Shouldering the Burden Together
Here in Massachusetts, we’ll begin on Monday, August 19th at 10am the JFK Building in Boston. Our opening rally will recite the names of those who have died because of ICE, and place the names on colorful hearts on a child-size coffin. Clergy and other pilgrims will carry the coffin over 70 miles, through Lynn, Danvers, Newburyport, Exeter, Lee, all the way to Dover NH, where we will converge with pilgrims from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Get Involved
We need your help! Whether you march for a day, offer a ride, or donate to support this effort, you can make a difference. Sign up to get involved at bit.ly/eccopilgrimage and donate at eccoaction.org/donate.
Sincerely,
